The present invention relates to the art of batching and delivering continuous streams of discrete forms, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for batching a continuous stream of such forms (which may be individual sheets, signatures, multiple business forms, etc.) as they are delivered at high speed. The forms may be received directly from a printing press, collator, or other appropriate source.
The prior art contains numerous examples of devices which batch such streams of forms. Nevertheless, with continuous improvements in printing presses, collators, and so on, has come the need for ever increasing speeds and versatility in such batch delivery devices. This is particularly the case when the forms are numbered serially. That is, for unnumbered forms, it is usually satisfactory if the overall average count (e.g. 50 per box) is correct, although the count in any given box may differ. However with serially numbered forms, it is important that the number of forms in each batch is accurate, so that each batch will contain the correctly numbered forms for that batch. However, the faster the forms are delivered, the more difficult it is to intercept the stream of forms at just the right point each time to give the required accuracy.
Another problem resulting from increased delivery speed is the ability of the personnel operating the batch delivery apparatus to keep up with it. Many prior art devices require considerable operator participation during the forming, delivering, and removal of the batches. The abilities and stamina of the operator can thus impose upper limits on the speeds at which many of these devices can be operated.